196 THE FLORIST. 



throughout July, great anxiety was felt by those acting for the 

 Society, and many fears were expressed that, as an exhibition, the 

 meeting would be a failure. 



The result completely and most pleasingly falsified these fears, 

 the exhibition proving the most extensive hitherto held, and being 

 assuredly quite equal to its predecessors in the growth and quality 

 of the specimens brought forward. Twenty-three stands of twelves, 

 and about 500 single specimens, were placed for award, the com- 

 petition being so close and well sustained, that the most careful 

 criticism was needed to determine the respective merits of the several 

 collections. In such circumstances, it must have been very gratify- 

 ing to the judges to note the hearty approval their selections re- 

 ceived ; and the emphatic testimony borne by some old Florists from 

 the north, " that not a stand or a single specimen had been misplaced 

 or misjudged," was so unanimously concurred in by a large assem- 

 blage, and is so much in accordance with my own judgment, that I 

 claim from the editor the right to repeat it here, not as incense to 

 himself and the gentlemen who gave their valuable services, but be- 

 cause this unanimity, growing from so much diversity, exhibits most 

 plainly the value of these aggregations ; whilst the improvement of 

 the flower is unquestionably largely secured in the knowledge dif- 

 fused, that all are striving for the same results. 



Of individual specimens my notice will be brief. The blooms 

 generally were fine examples of growth and colour ; and at the close 

 of this I shall enumerate those which were in their finest order in 

 their respective classes. 



Contrast still needs attention ; more especially this was observable 

 in one or two of the nurserymen's stands. A slight attention to the 

 arrangement of the various blooms, so as to bring their colours more 

 into juxta-position would have remedied this ; and I urgently beg my 

 friends to remember that they lose a great individual advantage, in 

 addition to the fact, that the flower is inefficiently presented to the 

 public notice, so long as they overlook or neglect this apparently 

 trivial, but really most important point. 



Seedlings were not so numerous as I have seen them on former 

 occasions, but those which were present were of fine quality generally. 

 Foremost in Picotees was a splendid heavy red sent by Mr. Hoyle, 

 to which a certificate was deservedly awarded. Alice Hoyle (heavy 

 rose), from the same source, is a most delightful variety ; but too 

 closely resembles Headley's Venus to be shewn as dissimilar; it is, 

 however, smoother than that variety, though, I must confess it, my 

 old eyes were not good enough to detect roughness in either, until 

 the difference was made observable by means of a powerful magnify- 

 ing-glass. Duke of Devonshire (Bayley), heavy purple, is a noble 

 variety, not quite so bright at York as I saw it subsequently in my 

 peregrinations through the midland counties, a result probably due 

 to the cold and moist atmosphere which had so long prevailed ; 

 but wherever it is grown, it will, I am sure, have many admirers. In 

 the first stand I noticed a fine heavy purple, which I believe will 

 make a first-class variety; but being a yearling, it must be seen again. 



